Drums of Fu Manchu

Drums of Fu Manchu 1940 is a 15chapter Republic movie serial based on the character created by Sax Rohmer. Though using the title of the ninth novel in the series, it actually is based on numerous elements from throughout the series to that point, cherrypicked by the writers. It starred Henry Brandon, William Royle and Robert Kellard. It was directed by the legendary serial team of William Witney and John English and is often considered one of the best movie serials ever made.

Drums of Fu Manchu was budgeted at 164,052 although the final negative cost was 166,312 a 2,260, or 1.4, overspend. It was the most expensive Republic serial of 1940, although this year was the first in which Republics overall spending on serial production was less than in the previous year. Republic spent 597,528 producing serials in 1940 compared to 648,064 in 1939 1939s total would not be beaten until the 782,204 of 1944. The studio produced four serials in each year, with the same mix of two 12chapter serials and two 15chapter serials.The serial was filmed between December 22, 1939 and February 7, 1940, the longest filming period of any Republic serial. The serials production number was 995. ........

Source: Wikipedia